Project acronym ALLEGRO
Project unrAvelLing sLow modE travelinG and tRaffic: with innOvative data to a new transportation and traffic theory for pedestrians and bicycles
Researcher (PI) Serge Hoogendoorn
Host Institution (HI) TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH3, ERC-2014-ADG
Summary A major challenge in contemporary traffic and transportation theory is having a comprehensive understanding of pedestrians and cyclists behaviour. This is notoriously hard to observe, since sensors providing abundant and detailed information about key variables characterising this behaviour have not been available until very recently. The behaviour is also far more complex than that of the much better understood fast mode. This is due to the many degrees of freedom in decision-making, the interactions among slow traffic participants that are more involved and far less guided by traffic rules and regulations than those between car-drivers, and the many fascinating but complex phenomena in slow traffic flows (self-organised patterns, turbulence, spontaneous phase transitions, herding, etc.) that are very hard to predict accurately.
With slow traffic modes gaining ground in terms of mode share in many cities, lack of empirical insights, behavioural theories, predictively valid analytical and simulation models, and tools to support planning, design, management and control is posing a major societal problem as well: examples of major accidents due to bad planning, organisation and management of events are manifold, as are locations where safety of slow modes is a serious issue due to interactions with fast modes.
This programme is geared towards establishing a comprehensive theory of slow mode traffic behaviour, considering the different behavioural levels relevant for understanding, reproducing and predicting slow mode traffic flows in cities. The levels deal with walking and cycling operations, activity scheduling and travel behaviour, and knowledge representation and learning. Major scientific breakthroughs are expected at each of these levels, in terms of theory and modelling, by using innovative (big) data collection and experimentation, analysis and fusion techniques, including social media data analytics, using augmented reality, and remote and crowd sensing.
Summary
A major challenge in contemporary traffic and transportation theory is having a comprehensive understanding of pedestrians and cyclists behaviour. This is notoriously hard to observe, since sensors providing abundant and detailed information about key variables characterising this behaviour have not been available until very recently. The behaviour is also far more complex than that of the much better understood fast mode. This is due to the many degrees of freedom in decision-making, the interactions among slow traffic participants that are more involved and far less guided by traffic rules and regulations than those between car-drivers, and the many fascinating but complex phenomena in slow traffic flows (self-organised patterns, turbulence, spontaneous phase transitions, herding, etc.) that are very hard to predict accurately.
With slow traffic modes gaining ground in terms of mode share in many cities, lack of empirical insights, behavioural theories, predictively valid analytical and simulation models, and tools to support planning, design, management and control is posing a major societal problem as well: examples of major accidents due to bad planning, organisation and management of events are manifold, as are locations where safety of slow modes is a serious issue due to interactions with fast modes.
This programme is geared towards establishing a comprehensive theory of slow mode traffic behaviour, considering the different behavioural levels relevant for understanding, reproducing and predicting slow mode traffic flows in cities. The levels deal with walking and cycling operations, activity scheduling and travel behaviour, and knowledge representation and learning. Major scientific breakthroughs are expected at each of these levels, in terms of theory and modelling, by using innovative (big) data collection and experimentation, analysis and fusion techniques, including social media data analytics, using augmented reality, and remote and crowd sensing.
Max ERC Funding
2 458 700 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-11-01, End date: 2020-10-31
Project acronym AMBH
Project Ancient Music Beyond Hellenisation
Researcher (PI) Stefan HAGEL
Host Institution (HI) OESTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH5, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary From medieval times, Arabic as well as European music was analysed in terms that were inherited from Classical Antiquity and had thus developed in a very different music culture. In spite of recent breakthroughs in the understanding of the latter, whose technicalities we access not only through texts and iconography, but also through instrument finds and surviving notated melodies, its relation to music traditions known from later periods and different places is almost uncharted territory.
The present project explores relations between Hellenic/Hellenistic music as pervaded the theatres and concert halls throughout and beyond the Roman empire, Near Eastern traditions – from the diatonic system emerging from cuneiform sources to the flourishing musical world of the caliphates – and, as far as possible, African musical life south of Egypt as well – a region that maintained close ties both with the Hellenised culture of its northern neighbours and with the Arabian Peninsula.
On the one hand, this demands collaboration between Classical Philology and Arabic Studies, extending methods recently developed within music archaeological research related to the Classical Mediterranean. Arabic writings need to be examined in close reading, using recent insights into the interplay between ancient music theory and practice, in order to segregate the influence of Greek thinking from ideas and facts that must relate to contemporaneous ‘Arabic’ music-making. In this way we hope better to define the relation of this tradition to the ‘Classical world’, potentially breaking free of Orientalising bias informing modern views. On the other hand, the study and reconstruction, virtual and material, of wind instruments of Hellenistic pedigree but found outside the confinements of the Hellenistic ‘heartlands’ may provide evidence of ‘foreign’ tonality employed in those regions – specifically the royal city of Meroë in modern Sudan and the Oxus Temple in modern Tajikistan.
Summary
From medieval times, Arabic as well as European music was analysed in terms that were inherited from Classical Antiquity and had thus developed in a very different music culture. In spite of recent breakthroughs in the understanding of the latter, whose technicalities we access not only through texts and iconography, but also through instrument finds and surviving notated melodies, its relation to music traditions known from later periods and different places is almost uncharted territory.
The present project explores relations between Hellenic/Hellenistic music as pervaded the theatres and concert halls throughout and beyond the Roman empire, Near Eastern traditions – from the diatonic system emerging from cuneiform sources to the flourishing musical world of the caliphates – and, as far as possible, African musical life south of Egypt as well – a region that maintained close ties both with the Hellenised culture of its northern neighbours and with the Arabian Peninsula.
On the one hand, this demands collaboration between Classical Philology and Arabic Studies, extending methods recently developed within music archaeological research related to the Classical Mediterranean. Arabic writings need to be examined in close reading, using recent insights into the interplay between ancient music theory and practice, in order to segregate the influence of Greek thinking from ideas and facts that must relate to contemporaneous ‘Arabic’ music-making. In this way we hope better to define the relation of this tradition to the ‘Classical world’, potentially breaking free of Orientalising bias informing modern views. On the other hand, the study and reconstruction, virtual and material, of wind instruments of Hellenistic pedigree but found outside the confinements of the Hellenistic ‘heartlands’ may provide evidence of ‘foreign’ tonality employed in those regions – specifically the royal city of Meroë in modern Sudan and the Oxus Temple in modern Tajikistan.
Max ERC Funding
775 959 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2023-08-31
Project acronym AsthmaVir
Project The roles of innate lymphoid cells and rhinovirus in asthma exacerbations
Researcher (PI) Hergen Spits
Host Institution (HI) ACADEMISCH MEDISCH CENTRUM BIJ DE UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS6, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary Asthma exacerbations represent a high unmet medical need in particular in young children. Human Rhinoviruses (HRV) are the main triggers of these exacerbations. Till now Th2 cells were considered the main initiating effector cell type in asthma in general and asthma exacerbations in particular. However, exaggerated Th2 cell activities alone do not explain all aspects of asthma and exacerbations. Building on our recent discovery of type 2 human innate lymphoid cells (ILC2) capable of promptly producing high amounts of IL-5, IL-9 and IL-13 upon activation and on mouse data pointing to an essential role of these cells in asthma and asthma exacerbations, ILC2 may be the main initiating cells in asthma exacerbations in humans. Thus we hypothesize that HRV directly or indirectly stimulate ILC2s to produce cytokines driving the effector functions leading to the end organ effects that characterize this debilitating disease. Targeting ILC2 and HRV in parallel will provide a highly attractive therapeutic option for the treatment of asthma exacerbations. In depth study of the mechanisms of ILC2 differentiation and function will lead to the design effective drugs targeting these cells; thus the first two objectives of this project are: 1) To unravel the lineage relationship of ILC populations and to decipher the signal transduction pathways that regulate the function of ILCs, 2) to test the functions of lung-residing human ILCs and the effects of compounds that affect these functions in mice which harbour a human immune system and human lung epithelium under homeostatic conditions and after infections with respiratory viruses. The third objective of this project is developing reagents that target HRV; to this end we will develop broadly reacting highly neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies that can be used for prophylaxis and therapy of patients at high risk for developing severe asthma exacerbations.
Summary
Asthma exacerbations represent a high unmet medical need in particular in young children. Human Rhinoviruses (HRV) are the main triggers of these exacerbations. Till now Th2 cells were considered the main initiating effector cell type in asthma in general and asthma exacerbations in particular. However, exaggerated Th2 cell activities alone do not explain all aspects of asthma and exacerbations. Building on our recent discovery of type 2 human innate lymphoid cells (ILC2) capable of promptly producing high amounts of IL-5, IL-9 and IL-13 upon activation and on mouse data pointing to an essential role of these cells in asthma and asthma exacerbations, ILC2 may be the main initiating cells in asthma exacerbations in humans. Thus we hypothesize that HRV directly or indirectly stimulate ILC2s to produce cytokines driving the effector functions leading to the end organ effects that characterize this debilitating disease. Targeting ILC2 and HRV in parallel will provide a highly attractive therapeutic option for the treatment of asthma exacerbations. In depth study of the mechanisms of ILC2 differentiation and function will lead to the design effective drugs targeting these cells; thus the first two objectives of this project are: 1) To unravel the lineage relationship of ILC populations and to decipher the signal transduction pathways that regulate the function of ILCs, 2) to test the functions of lung-residing human ILCs and the effects of compounds that affect these functions in mice which harbour a human immune system and human lung epithelium under homeostatic conditions and after infections with respiratory viruses. The third objective of this project is developing reagents that target HRV; to this end we will develop broadly reacting highly neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies that can be used for prophylaxis and therapy of patients at high risk for developing severe asthma exacerbations.
Max ERC Funding
2 499 593 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-03-01, End date: 2019-02-28
Project acronym ATTACK
Project Pressured to Attack: How Carrying-Capacity Stress Creates and Shapes Intergroup Conflict
Researcher (PI) Carsten DE DREU
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH3, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary Throughout history, what has been causing tremendous suffering is groups of people fighting each other. While behavioral science research has advanced our understanding of such intergroup conflict, it has exclusively focused on micro-level processes within and between groups at conflict. Disciplines that employ a more historical perspective like climate studies or political geography report that macro-level pressures due to changes in climate or economic scarcity can go along with social unrest and wars. How do these macro-level pressures relate to micro-level processes? Do they both occur independently, or do macro-level pressures trigger micro-level processes that cause intergroup conflict? And if so, which micro-level processes are triggered, and how?
With unavoidable signs of climate change and increasing resource scarcities, answers to these questions are urgently needed. Here I propose carrying-capacity stress (CCS) as the missing link between macro-level pressures and micro-level processes. A group experiences CCS when its resources do not suffice to maintain its functionality. CCS is a function of macro-level pressures and creates intergroup conflict because it impacts micro-level motivation to contribute to one’s group’s fighting capacity and shapes the coordination of individual contributions to out-group aggression through emergent norms, communication and leadership.
To test these propositions I develop a parametric model of CCS that is amenable to measurement and experimentation, and use techniques used in my work on conflict and cooperation: Meta-analyses and time-series analysis of macro-level historical data; experiments on intergroup conflict; and measurement of neuro-hormonal correlates of cooperation and conflict. In combination, this project provides novel multi-level conflict theory that integrates macro-level discoveries in climate research and political geography with micro-level processes uncovered in the biobehavioral sciences
Summary
Throughout history, what has been causing tremendous suffering is groups of people fighting each other. While behavioral science research has advanced our understanding of such intergroup conflict, it has exclusively focused on micro-level processes within and between groups at conflict. Disciplines that employ a more historical perspective like climate studies or political geography report that macro-level pressures due to changes in climate or economic scarcity can go along with social unrest and wars. How do these macro-level pressures relate to micro-level processes? Do they both occur independently, or do macro-level pressures trigger micro-level processes that cause intergroup conflict? And if so, which micro-level processes are triggered, and how?
With unavoidable signs of climate change and increasing resource scarcities, answers to these questions are urgently needed. Here I propose carrying-capacity stress (CCS) as the missing link between macro-level pressures and micro-level processes. A group experiences CCS when its resources do not suffice to maintain its functionality. CCS is a function of macro-level pressures and creates intergroup conflict because it impacts micro-level motivation to contribute to one’s group’s fighting capacity and shapes the coordination of individual contributions to out-group aggression through emergent norms, communication and leadership.
To test these propositions I develop a parametric model of CCS that is amenable to measurement and experimentation, and use techniques used in my work on conflict and cooperation: Meta-analyses and time-series analysis of macro-level historical data; experiments on intergroup conflict; and measurement of neuro-hormonal correlates of cooperation and conflict. In combination, this project provides novel multi-level conflict theory that integrates macro-level discoveries in climate research and political geography with micro-level processes uncovered in the biobehavioral sciences
Max ERC Funding
2 490 383 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-08-01, End date: 2023-07-31
Project acronym AUTHORITARIANGLOBAL
Project Authoritarianism in a Global Age: Controlling Information and Communication, Association and People Movement
Researcher (PI) Marlies Glasius
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH2, ERC-2012-ADG_20120411
Summary The overarching research question of this project is: how is authoritarian rule affected by and responding to globalisation of (a) information and communication, (b) association, and (c) people movement? The wholly unpredicted series of revolts that recently spread across the Arab world suggests that the nature and sustainability of contemporary authoritarian rule are not well-understood. Openness to global ICT and media, international NGOs, and inflow and outflow of people have thrown up new challenges for authoritarian rulers in terms of how to control citizens. This project investigates changes in both the nature and the sustainability of authoritarian rule in relation to the erosion of decision-making autonomy at the state level posited by globalisation theorists.
In four sub-projects, this project will investigate:
1. Whether, how and to what extent globalisation of information and communication, association, and people movement affect authoritarian persistence (longitudinal quantitative study, 1970-2011)
2. How, i.e. with what policy mechanisms, authoritarian states respond to globalisation of information and communication, association, and people movement (qualitative multi-sited studies relating to Belarus, China, Iran and Zimbabwe)
3. How to understand the phenomenon of subnational authoritarianism in its engagement with the democratic state and the wider world in relation to information and communication, association, and people movement (mixed method subnational studies of states within India and Mexico)
4. What authoritarianism is in a global age: reconsidering authoritarianism’s defining characteristics of low accountability and high coercion, and whether these still relate exclusively to statehood (theory study)
The project will transcend the theoretical and empirical separation between globalisation studies (which have neglected authoritarian contexts) and authoritarianism studies(which have taken relatively little notice of effects of globalisation)
Summary
The overarching research question of this project is: how is authoritarian rule affected by and responding to globalisation of (a) information and communication, (b) association, and (c) people movement? The wholly unpredicted series of revolts that recently spread across the Arab world suggests that the nature and sustainability of contemporary authoritarian rule are not well-understood. Openness to global ICT and media, international NGOs, and inflow and outflow of people have thrown up new challenges for authoritarian rulers in terms of how to control citizens. This project investigates changes in both the nature and the sustainability of authoritarian rule in relation to the erosion of decision-making autonomy at the state level posited by globalisation theorists.
In four sub-projects, this project will investigate:
1. Whether, how and to what extent globalisation of information and communication, association, and people movement affect authoritarian persistence (longitudinal quantitative study, 1970-2011)
2. How, i.e. with what policy mechanisms, authoritarian states respond to globalisation of information and communication, association, and people movement (qualitative multi-sited studies relating to Belarus, China, Iran and Zimbabwe)
3. How to understand the phenomenon of subnational authoritarianism in its engagement with the democratic state and the wider world in relation to information and communication, association, and people movement (mixed method subnational studies of states within India and Mexico)
4. What authoritarianism is in a global age: reconsidering authoritarianism’s defining characteristics of low accountability and high coercion, and whether these still relate exclusively to statehood (theory study)
The project will transcend the theoretical and empirical separation between globalisation studies (which have neglected authoritarian contexts) and authoritarianism studies(which have taken relatively little notice of effects of globalisation)
Max ERC Funding
2 451 179 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-10-01, End date: 2019-02-28
Project acronym BAM
Project Becoming A Minority
Researcher (PI) Maurice CRUL
Host Institution (HI) STICHTING VU
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH3, ERC-2016-ADG
Summary In the last forty years, researchers in the Field of Migration and Ethnic Studies looked at the integration of migrants and their descendants. Concepts, methodological tools and theoretical frameworks have been developed to measure and predict integration outcomes both across different ethnic groups and in comparison with people of native descent. But are we also looking into the actual integration of the receiving group of native ‘white’ descent in city contexts where they have become a numerical minority themselves? In cities like Amsterdam, now only one in three youngsters under age fifteen is of native descent. This situation, referred to as a majority-minority context, is a new phenomenon in Western Europe and it presents itself as one of the most important societal and psychological transformations of our time. I argue that the field of migration and ethnic studies is stagnating because of the one-sided focus on migrants and their children. This is even more urgent given the increased ant-immigrant vote. These pressing scientific and societal reasons pushed me to develop the project BAM (Becoming A Minority). The project will be executed in three harbor cities, Rotterdam, Antwerp and Malmö, and three service sector cities, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Vienna. BAM consists of 5 subprojects: (1) A meta-analysis of secondary data on people of native ‘white’ descent in the six research sites; (2) A newly developed survey for the target group; (3) An analysis of critical circumstances of encounter that trigger either positive or rather negative responses to increased ethnic diversity (4) Experimental diversity labs to test under which circumstances people will change their attitudes or their actions towards increased ethnic diversity; (5) The formulation of a new theory of integration that includes the changed position of the group of native ‘white’ descent as an important actor.
Summary
In the last forty years, researchers in the Field of Migration and Ethnic Studies looked at the integration of migrants and their descendants. Concepts, methodological tools and theoretical frameworks have been developed to measure and predict integration outcomes both across different ethnic groups and in comparison with people of native descent. But are we also looking into the actual integration of the receiving group of native ‘white’ descent in city contexts where they have become a numerical minority themselves? In cities like Amsterdam, now only one in three youngsters under age fifteen is of native descent. This situation, referred to as a majority-minority context, is a new phenomenon in Western Europe and it presents itself as one of the most important societal and psychological transformations of our time. I argue that the field of migration and ethnic studies is stagnating because of the one-sided focus on migrants and their children. This is even more urgent given the increased ant-immigrant vote. These pressing scientific and societal reasons pushed me to develop the project BAM (Becoming A Minority). The project will be executed in three harbor cities, Rotterdam, Antwerp and Malmö, and three service sector cities, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Vienna. BAM consists of 5 subprojects: (1) A meta-analysis of secondary data on people of native ‘white’ descent in the six research sites; (2) A newly developed survey for the target group; (3) An analysis of critical circumstances of encounter that trigger either positive or rather negative responses to increased ethnic diversity (4) Experimental diversity labs to test under which circumstances people will change their attitudes or their actions towards increased ethnic diversity; (5) The formulation of a new theory of integration that includes the changed position of the group of native ‘white’ descent as an important actor.
Max ERC Funding
2 499 714 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-11-01, End date: 2022-10-31
Project acronym BIOSPACE
Project Monitoring Biodiversity from Space
Researcher (PI) Andrew Kerr Skidmore
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT TWENTE
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH2, ERC-2018-ADG
Summary Life, with all its diversity, is in crisis. As humans increasingly encroach on biologically complex semi- natural landscapes, no organism, place or ecological function remains unaffected. While all 196 parties (195 countries plus the European Union) to the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) have agreed to monitor the state of biodiversity, the currently available methods to do so leave much to be desired. Traditional monitoring involves the field observation of species by trained specialists, aided by skilled volunteers, whose expertise is restricted to specific biotic groupings. In a process that is both time consuming and inconsistent across time and space, botanists identify and record the presence of plant species and ornithologists the bird biota, resulting in 'unpopular' biotic groups such as fungi, bacteria and insects being under-observed or escaping identification altogether. In this project, a fundamentally different approach to terrestrial biodiversity monitoring couples next generation satellite remote sensing with environmental DNA (eDNA) profiling, complemented where available by legacy human-observed datasets. Satellite remote sensing is able to survey the environment as a single, continuous, fine-resolution map, while eDNA profiling can rapidly quantify much greater taxonomical and functional breadth and depth than human field observation. This project combines, for the first time, these two powerful, cutting-edge techniques for monitoring biodiversity at the global level in a consistent manner. Following from this, another key innovation will be the deepening of our scientific understanding of how biodiversity is impacted by anthropogenic pressure as well as by natural environmental gradients. In concert, these scientific developments will enable the accurate and fine grain monitoring of biodiversity from space – a ground-breaking contribution to the quest to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals and CBD Aichi targets.
Summary
Life, with all its diversity, is in crisis. As humans increasingly encroach on biologically complex semi- natural landscapes, no organism, place or ecological function remains unaffected. While all 196 parties (195 countries plus the European Union) to the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) have agreed to monitor the state of biodiversity, the currently available methods to do so leave much to be desired. Traditional monitoring involves the field observation of species by trained specialists, aided by skilled volunteers, whose expertise is restricted to specific biotic groupings. In a process that is both time consuming and inconsistent across time and space, botanists identify and record the presence of plant species and ornithologists the bird biota, resulting in 'unpopular' biotic groups such as fungi, bacteria and insects being under-observed or escaping identification altogether. In this project, a fundamentally different approach to terrestrial biodiversity monitoring couples next generation satellite remote sensing with environmental DNA (eDNA) profiling, complemented where available by legacy human-observed datasets. Satellite remote sensing is able to survey the environment as a single, continuous, fine-resolution map, while eDNA profiling can rapidly quantify much greater taxonomical and functional breadth and depth than human field observation. This project combines, for the first time, these two powerful, cutting-edge techniques for monitoring biodiversity at the global level in a consistent manner. Following from this, another key innovation will be the deepening of our scientific understanding of how biodiversity is impacted by anthropogenic pressure as well as by natural environmental gradients. In concert, these scientific developments will enable the accurate and fine grain monitoring of biodiversity from space – a ground-breaking contribution to the quest to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals and CBD Aichi targets.
Max ERC Funding
2 470 315 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-09-01, End date: 2024-08-31
Project acronym ChemicalYouth
Project What chemicals do for youths in their everyday lives
Researcher (PI) Anita Petra Hardon
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH2, ERC-2012-ADG_20120411
Summary The everyday lives of contemporary youths are awash with chemicals and pharmaceutical compounds to boost pleasure, moods, sexual performance, vitality, appearance and health. Nevertheless, most studies of chemical use among young people have focused on the abuse of specific recreational drugs and their role within deviant youth sub-cultures. Instead of explaining drug abuse with the purpose of controlling it, this project aims to examine the pervasive use of chemicals from the perspectives of youths themselves. It aims to understand what chemical and pharmaceutical substances, and not only illicit narcotics, ‘do’ for youths. How are chemicals a part of their everyday lives? What role do they play in calming their fears or in achieving their dreams and aspirations? How can we understand the ways in which chemicals affect their bodies and minds?
The theoretical innovation promised by this project lies in its combining of disciplines – most notably medical anthropology, science and technology studies and youth studies – to formulate a new groundbreaking framework for understanding the complex sociality of chemicals in youths’ everyday lives. The framework will have both scientific and societal impact.
Ethnographic research will be conducted in four medium-sized cities: Marseille in France, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Makassar in Indonesia, and Batangas in the Philippines.
Summary
The everyday lives of contemporary youths are awash with chemicals and pharmaceutical compounds to boost pleasure, moods, sexual performance, vitality, appearance and health. Nevertheless, most studies of chemical use among young people have focused on the abuse of specific recreational drugs and their role within deviant youth sub-cultures. Instead of explaining drug abuse with the purpose of controlling it, this project aims to examine the pervasive use of chemicals from the perspectives of youths themselves. It aims to understand what chemical and pharmaceutical substances, and not only illicit narcotics, ‘do’ for youths. How are chemicals a part of their everyday lives? What role do they play in calming their fears or in achieving their dreams and aspirations? How can we understand the ways in which chemicals affect their bodies and minds?
The theoretical innovation promised by this project lies in its combining of disciplines – most notably medical anthropology, science and technology studies and youth studies – to formulate a new groundbreaking framework for understanding the complex sociality of chemicals in youths’ everyday lives. The framework will have both scientific and societal impact.
Ethnographic research will be conducted in four medium-sized cities: Marseille in France, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Makassar in Indonesia, and Batangas in the Philippines.
Max ERC Funding
2 489 967 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-06-01, End date: 2018-05-31
Project acronym COLUMNARCODECRACKING
Project Cracking the columnar-level code in the visual hierarchy: Ultra high-field functional MRI, neuro-cognitive modelling and high-resolution brain-computer interfaces
Researcher (PI) Rainer Goebel
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH4, ERC-2010-AdG_20100407
Summary "Recent developments of high-field functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have advanced the level of functional detail to sub-millimetre spatial resolution. This is of critical importance because in the mammalian cortex, small functional cortical patches appear to constitute fundamental units of brain function. These functional units are often organized as ""cortical columns"" that contain clusters of neurons with similar functional preferences. The present project will investigate what ""features"" are coded by functional “columnar-level” units in the visual cortex, how represented entities can be decoded from distributed activity patterns, and how modelled intra- and inter-areal connections between feature representations enable neuro-cognitive computations. The research of this project strives towards a new level of insight in the functional organization of the human brain: Instead of describing observed fMRI activity at the level of specialized brain areas, the focus will be shifted towards the content coded within brain regions. The project investigates columnar-level coding in three cross-fertilising sub-projects. In the first sub-project, sophisticated experimental designs, ultra high-field fMRI and advanced data analyses will be combined to unravel columnar-level feature representations and the entities represented by distributed patterns at different levels of the visual hierarchy. In the second sub-project, a large-scale neural network model will be developed with the major goal to integrate measured columnar-level representations in a new theory of invariant object recognition and visual attention. In the third sub-project, high-resolution Brain Computer Interfaces (hr-BCIs) will be created that are based on information extracted from columnar-level representations. The hr-BCIs will implement highly content-specific neurofeedback tools for therapeutic treatment, and advanced communication devices for patients with severe motor impairments."
Summary
"Recent developments of high-field functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have advanced the level of functional detail to sub-millimetre spatial resolution. This is of critical importance because in the mammalian cortex, small functional cortical patches appear to constitute fundamental units of brain function. These functional units are often organized as ""cortical columns"" that contain clusters of neurons with similar functional preferences. The present project will investigate what ""features"" are coded by functional “columnar-level” units in the visual cortex, how represented entities can be decoded from distributed activity patterns, and how modelled intra- and inter-areal connections between feature representations enable neuro-cognitive computations. The research of this project strives towards a new level of insight in the functional organization of the human brain: Instead of describing observed fMRI activity at the level of specialized brain areas, the focus will be shifted towards the content coded within brain regions. The project investigates columnar-level coding in three cross-fertilising sub-projects. In the first sub-project, sophisticated experimental designs, ultra high-field fMRI and advanced data analyses will be combined to unravel columnar-level feature representations and the entities represented by distributed patterns at different levels of the visual hierarchy. In the second sub-project, a large-scale neural network model will be developed with the major goal to integrate measured columnar-level representations in a new theory of invariant object recognition and visual attention. In the third sub-project, high-resolution Brain Computer Interfaces (hr-BCIs) will be created that are based on information extracted from columnar-level representations. The hr-BCIs will implement highly content-specific neurofeedback tools for therapeutic treatment, and advanced communication devices for patients with severe motor impairments."
Max ERC Funding
2 473 381 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-05-01, End date: 2016-04-30
Project acronym CONOPP
Project "Contexts of Opportunity: Explaining Cross-National Variation in the Links Between Childhood Disadvantage, Young Adult Demographic Behaviour and Later-Life Outcomes"
Researcher (PI) Aart Cornelis Liefbroer
Host Institution (HI) KONINKLIJKE NEDERLANDSE AKADEMIE VAN WETENSCHAPPEN - KNAW
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH3, ERC-2012-ADG_20120411
Summary "In an era of worldwide increasing inequalities, key social science issues about the production and reproduction of social inequality gain renewed attention. One central issue is the role played by demographic events and trajectories in producing and reproducing inequalities. This proposal examines this issue by studying the relationships between the experience of childhood social disadvantage, demographic decision-making during young adulthood and later-life economic, social and health outcomes from a comparative perspective. The key contribution of this proposal is that it studies cross-national variation in the strength of these relationships and focuses on one general explanation: the strength of the relationships depend on the opportunities that societies offer to abate the adverse impact of economic and social deprivation. I will pay attention to three aspects of the national context: (1) economic aspects, like the level of economic development and growth in a country, (2) cultural aspects, like the extent to which strong norms on family-related behaviour are operative, and (3) aspects of institutional arrangements, like the openness of the educational system, and existing family policies and general social policies. I will test whether the strength of the links between childhood disadvantage, young adult demographic behaviour and subsequent outcomes depend on these three aspects of the ‘contexts of opportunity’. To test these ideas, I will use retrospective and prospective data from the Generations and Gender Programme, and use a combination of sophisticated methods, including multi-level analysis, latent variable analysis and sequence analysis. In doing so, this project will elucidate the role of demography in the reproduction of inequalities and highlight key opportunity structures that influence the strength of the relevant links between social background, young adult demographic behaviours and subsequent outcomes."
Summary
"In an era of worldwide increasing inequalities, key social science issues about the production and reproduction of social inequality gain renewed attention. One central issue is the role played by demographic events and trajectories in producing and reproducing inequalities. This proposal examines this issue by studying the relationships between the experience of childhood social disadvantage, demographic decision-making during young adulthood and later-life economic, social and health outcomes from a comparative perspective. The key contribution of this proposal is that it studies cross-national variation in the strength of these relationships and focuses on one general explanation: the strength of the relationships depend on the opportunities that societies offer to abate the adverse impact of economic and social deprivation. I will pay attention to three aspects of the national context: (1) economic aspects, like the level of economic development and growth in a country, (2) cultural aspects, like the extent to which strong norms on family-related behaviour are operative, and (3) aspects of institutional arrangements, like the openness of the educational system, and existing family policies and general social policies. I will test whether the strength of the links between childhood disadvantage, young adult demographic behaviour and subsequent outcomes depend on these three aspects of the ‘contexts of opportunity’. To test these ideas, I will use retrospective and prospective data from the Generations and Gender Programme, and use a combination of sophisticated methods, including multi-level analysis, latent variable analysis and sequence analysis. In doing so, this project will elucidate the role of demography in the reproduction of inequalities and highlight key opportunity structures that influence the strength of the relevant links between social background, young adult demographic behaviours and subsequent outcomes."
Max ERC Funding
1 545 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-06-01, End date: 2018-05-31
